This is what Dave Hart signed on for when he became Tennessee's
athletics director in September 2011. Even then - two losing seasons
ago - Hart had to recognize Dooley was not the long-term answer for UT
football. He knew this day was coming.

Hart can't afford to get it wrong. The Vols have fallen. Can Hart help them get up?

Vol
Ball has lost its way in the SEC and no longer is a major player in the
national conversation. When you go through three football coaches in
five years - and your teams compile a 27-34 record during that span -
you have become an afterthought.

A couple of weeks ago, there was
concern that Hart would be allowed to make the call on Dooley's
continued employment in a vacuum. At the time, other UT administrators
appeared to be distancing themselves from the decision, leaving it
entirely in Hart's hands.

But it turned out to be a no-brainer. With six losses in the last seven games, a 0-7 SEC record and the 41-18 debacle at Vanderbilt
on Saturday night, Dooley was toast. All Hart had to do was call the
meeting and turn it over to the attorneys to work through the fine
print.

Moving forward, this is Hart's baby. Sure, a handful of
major financial players will voice their opinions and Hart's higher-ups
on UT's organizational chart might drop a hint or two, but it's his
call. He'll set the agenda. He'll manage the interviews. In time, he'll
make the hire.

And he'd better get it right. A football program
can survive one bad hire, maybe even two. But after Lane Kiffin and
Dooley, it's three strikes and you're out.

It's not his nature,
but the first thing Hart should do is make a very public overture to Jon
Gruden. Because he's not currently coaching a team (Shades of Kiffin,
perhaps?), there is no breach of protocol in approaching him before the
season is over.

Hart should make it clear money is no object. That
accomplishes two things. For one, it appeases the elements of UT's fan
base that are infatuated with Gruden. For another, it forces Gruden to
proclaim his interest or lack of interest.

After that, Hart can work the angles. If Gruden is not in play, Hart can go about his business via the usual back channels.

One
very important thing Hart has done is clear the deck. At a press
conference on Sunday, he stressed that any concerns, real or imagined,
about academic deterrents to UT's success have been addressed. Such
concerns have been part of the conversation since it became clear
Dooley's days were numbered.

"We have some competitive
disadvantages that have been identified, that everyone in our campus has
been working to overcome together, " Hart said. "We have some academic
competitive disadvantages that we are eliminating."

And then
there's the financial side. Dooley's ouster costs UT an arm, a leg and a
few other body parts. Dooley's buyout is $5 million. If all his
assistant coaches are fired, it potentially would cost UT another $4
million-plus, although some of that cost would be reduced if the
assistants were hired elsewhere.

But Hart vowed that financial concerns would not impact the coaching search.

"We are not going to let that be a detriment to securing the best coach we can," he said.

Still,
times are tough. Because of major facilities upgrades as well as having
to pay off departed coaches and other department personnel, UT
currently has a reserve of only about $1.9 million, which is far below
much of the SEC competition.

Dooley's firing and the buyout that
now kicks in only add to that financial burden. The numbers are
staggering. Here's the breakdown of what Dooley has cost and will
continue to cost UT for his three years of employment:

• $100,000 - payment for team's achieving satisfactory academic progress over two years.

That adds up to $11,636,782, or an average of $3,878,927.33 a year.

Based
on those numbers, Dooley is the sixth-highest paid college football
coach in the nation this season. Only Nick Saban ($5.3 million), Mack
Brown ($5.25 million), Bob Stoops ($5.05 million), Les Miles ($4.15
million) and Urban Meyer ($4 million) make more in compensation from
their schools.

For those keeping score, the combined records of those five coaches this season is 46-7. Dooley's record is 4-7.

All told, UT paid $775,785.46 for each of Dooley's 15 victories over the last three seasons.

There's
more. If all Dooley's assistant coaches are fired at season's end, it
potentially would cost UT another $4 million-plus, although some of that
cost would be reduced if the assistants were hired elsewhere.

But
as he is kicked to the curb, let's give Dooley credit. He leaves the
program better than when he took over from Kiffin - although not to the
extreme some would have you believe.

Depending on what the
offensive threesome of Tyler Bray, Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin
Hunter decide about the NFL draft, the roster is a bit deeper and
marginally more talented. But there are still some positions where the
roster still needs a major upgrade.

Dooley's biggest
accomplishment was to slow the attrition and instill a level of
discipline that was absent under Kiffin. The Vol For Life program he
helped create should carry over to the next regime.

Like Hart said on Sunday:

"He
inherited a very, very difficult environment. ... Quite honestly, he was
given a pretty short stick to take into that battle. Given those facts,
he did a good job in a lot of areas in putting a solid foundation under
our football program."

Now it's up to Dave Hart to find someone to build upon that foundation.

Identifying and hiring the right person for the job is a monumental task. Time will tell if Hart is up to it.